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Microplastics in Drinking Water
Summary
This study quantified microplastics from 0.2 micrometers in raw and treated water from three Czech water treatment plants, focusing on size fractions often overlooked in monitoring studies. Microplastic concentrations ranged from 1,414 to 7,006 particles per liter in raw water and 305 to 921 per liter after treatment, with particles smaller than 10 micrometers being most abundant, demonstrating that treatment substantially reduced but did not eliminate microplastics.
The research was focused on microplastics occurring in water sources and in drinking water. Recently, the topic of microplastics in water is very up to date. However, most of the studies are focused on quantification of microplastics in sea water, sediments or surface waters, which are not a source of raw water for drinking water treatment, and at the same time the most of studies deal with the analysis of particles in the size range of 0.3 - 5 mm. The subject of the present study was to quantify microplastics from 0.2 μm in raw and treated water from three unnamed water treatment plants in the Czech Republic and to determine their size distribution, shape and material composition. It has been found that the number of microplastics ranged from 1414-7006 L-1 particles in raw water and 305-921 L-1 particles in treated water. Microplastics smaller than 10 μm were the most plentiful in both raw and treated water samples. Fragments clearly prevailed at two of the water treatment plants and fibres together with fragments predominated at one case.